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Tony Kornheiser
Hi, it's Ron. On today's show we'll talk to Rich Podolski about his new book Maddening Summer All. We'll also go around the NFL with Jason Lock and Ford. And then we'll get weekly picks from James Carville maybe and Jeff Ma. But first, let's do some commerce.
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Tony Kornheiser
For the whole crew or the capability.
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To go off road? Maybe it's up to 600 plus miles of range. What if it's all that and more? What is it then?
Tony Kornheiser
The all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid. It's.
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Is it the driver behind the wheel?
Rich Podolsky
No.
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Tony Kornheiser
The all new Hyundai Palisade hybrid.
Rich Podolsky
So much more than just another SUV.
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Tony Kornheiser
Possibility means you have a chance. Passion opens the door to all possibilities.
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When I feel like anything's possible, I feel kind of giddy.
Tony Kornheiser
I want to be an astronaut, an.
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Artist, an actress to visit another country.
Jeff Ma
All I need is a backpack and a pair of shoes and I'll find.
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A able to do anything I set my mind to.
Jeff Ma
I've never felt like more things are.
Tony Kornheiser
Possible than right now. In the right shoes, anything's possible.
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Dsw Countless shoes at brag worthy prices. Imagine the possibilities. Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show Road favorites are.
Jeff Ma
Are been doing doing really well. Favorites in general underdogs are getting. I mean this is why I'm, I'm, I'm going with a few more underdogs because underdog's been the favorites have been killing it in the first two weeks which means you would assume there'd be.
Jason Lock
A little bit of a correction here.
Tony Kornheiser
We wish you luck. I don't know if Chris does the rest of us, I absolutely do not. I know.
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The Tony Kornheiser show is on now.
Tony Kornheiser
Chuck Todd one and zero after last night to 12 and a half and the bills only won by 10.
Jason Lock
10.
Tony Kornheiser
That's right. So he won that. Reginald the monkey lost it. We're guest loaded today. We're going to go right to a guest, my friend Rich Podolsky. You may remember that we had Rich on when he talked about the book he had written. You are looking live about the greatest pregame show ever. The CBS pregame show with Brent Musburger. And now he has written another book, Madden and Summer all how they revolutionized NFL broadcasting. So let me get right to it. I mean, I talked about this yesterday with some people from pti. I'm saying, is there anybody else you can think of that is a better pairing ever than Madden and Summerall? And you know, everybody sort of had, well, I like this guy and that guy, but no, I, you know, I don't think so. Do you think, Rich, I mean, you've been in television for an awfully long time. You know these guys very well or knew them anyway. Do you, do you think they are unquestionably the best of all time?
Rich Podolsky
To me, without doubt, the only ones that have come close at all, in my opinion, are the current pair of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. They really mesh tremendously well together. And like Madden, it took Joe Buck a while to find his path, to find a comfortable way. He told me when I interviewed him that he was trying to copy Summerall when he started out as the number one guy for Fox and he realized that didn't work.
Tony Kornheiser
Summerall did a lot of Sweden just do football. Summerall did tennis, Summerall did golf. Summer all his voice, this is what I remember. And it's so odd because he was indeed a professional football player. And you don't think this, but his voice, which he used sparingly, he didn't over talk. It was very comforting, extraordinarily comforting. He was on long before Madden went to television. How did they get together? Because his first partner on football anyway was Tom Brookshire.
Rich Podolsky
Well, you know, Pat Summerall was a renaissance guy. He played five sports at a tremendously high level, including Kennis. He was the first guy to go from the field to the booth as an analyst and then to play by play. And he started in 1962. He was on the air almost 20 years before he got paired with John Madden in 1981 and was only Madden's third season. It was very unusual circumstances because Summer, I've been the number one guy with Tom Berkshire for over six years and because of their escapades, their drinking escapades on the weekends and the trouble Berkshire particularly got into, the new president, CBS Band, Gordon Sauter, was determined to split them up. And in doing so, he was asked, who are you going to make the number one team? He said, I don't know about play by play, but I know I want John Madden to be my analyst. Well, at that point John Madden had only worked two seasons for CBS and no more than about 10 or 11 games total and none of them had gone back to New York. He was still learning the first season he worked with different play by play guy, a different director, different producer, all five games. And he was not getting any help at all from cbs. And he was trying to learn on the fly on his own. He almost got fired at the end of that first season and saved really wow. With a tremendous routine he put on at a Super bowl pre super bowl lunch at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 1980, right before Super Bowl 14. He had the entire audience of 500 advertisers, media personnel and NFL executives and stitches. Anyhow, CBS executives, after that routine he put on, saw him in a new light. They no longer saw him as another ex coach who wanted to be an analyst. They saw him for what he could be and they gave him another chance. In his second year he worked six games with Gary Bender only and the same producer and director. And that seemed to really help. Bender when I talked to him, told me that Madden had improved tremendously near the second half of the season. And he really felt at one point that he really got it. But he still wasn't the John Madden we knew with the, the sound effects in the boom and he didn't have the, the telestrator, which they called the CBS chalkboard. And that all changed in 1981 when Sauder brought in Terry O' Neill from ABC, a young 31 year old executive producer to revamp the CBS NFL coverage. And o' Neill was a big proponent of tearing Summerall with Madden. And the boss wanted Vince Scully. And there was a battle internally. Russia got it. They came to a compromise. Scully would work the first four games of the 1981 season with Madden. Summer, I will work the second four games in October. And on Monday, October 26, the CBS executives would decide. In the meantime, Summerall was very unhappy with that decision because he had been the number one guy for a long time. And he threatened to get an agent, which he never had. And he also threatened to run for Senate in the state of Florida and on the Republican ticket. And that made the New York Times and Terry o' Neill and Van Soder were not happy to read that. Two weeks before they had to make the decision in the boardroom they all voted for Summer all and the fight was over. Summerall got the job, but somebody had to tell Vince Scully and Terry o' Neill got that the job of having to tell Scully. And he made the mistake of calling Scully and saying I had. I have good news for you. You're going to do the NFC Championship game, but not the Super Bowl.
Tony Kornheiser
That doesn't sound like good news. If you're Vince. I mean, Vince Gulley is a baseball announcer first and foremost. So I, you know, even though I was watching television in those times, I guess I don't even remember him from football. But these other people you mentioned, like Van Gordon Sauter and Terry o', Neill, I know them. And Terry o' Neill invented the sports reporters, which ultimately went to espn. That was Terry's deal, because I remember being on the. On the pilot of that show. And Van Gordon Sorter once sort of offered me a job to write for television. And I said, I don't really know anything about television. And he said to me, all you had. And this is before we had remotes. This is when you had to manually adjust the television, change the channels, change the volume. And he said, all you have to know about television is you turn the button to the right and it gets louder. That's all like. And so I really. I have great admiration for them, these guys. So that's. The decision is made. That's at cbs. But they went to Fox when Fox got rich, when Fox got football, so many people were surprised and shocked, and it made the network. It was the smartest thing they ever did. Right.
Rich Podolsky
You know, Larry Tisch, who owned CBS at the time, in 1990-93, when the negotiations were going on for the next four years, starting in 94, Larry Tisch was not happy that he was losing $100 million a year with the baseball contract that Neil Pilsen had talked him into. Not happy that he lost the NBA because Pilsen and others said they play their Finals in June, and that doesn't help us with the sweeps ratings. And so they lost Michael Jordan, who won the MVP for probably the next eight years, and NBA ratings rose dramatically and CBS no longer had it. So he wasn't willing to lose any money on the NFL. They were paying 250 million a year at the time, and he agreed to go to 295 million, which Tilson told him would get. Get the job done. Except Mr. Murdoch. Yes. Murdoch wasn't looking to save money. He was looking to build a network. Yeah, he had 139 affiliates versus more than 200 for the three other three networks and others. 139 affiliates, 120 of them were on UHF channels. And if you remember uhf, those channels were way out in the boondocks and hard to find. So he didn't have much of a network. And he knew that if he could get the NFL that he would get a lot of CBS affiliates switching over and He. He was very successful. And the first thing he did after he bid over 400 million a year versus the 295 from CBS and the NFL owner were glad to give it to him. He didn't care about losing money. He was building a network and he was building a life for his family, and that was all that cared. There were a lot of jokes who was going to do the game when they got it, but once they signed John Madden and Pat Summerall, there were no more jokes about it. It gave them instant credibility and it gave a fledgling network instant credibility.
Tony Kornheiser
So, I mean, and they were. They were great. Summerall and Madden were truly great. Summerall left. Madden continued after Summer all left. Madden continued and left Fox, if I'm not mistaken. Right. And didn't he work with Al Michaels at some point? I mean, and then Madden. Madden just said at one day, that's it, I'm done. Right. It was. It was very arbitrary by him and nobody really saw it coming. Am I right on that?
Rich Podolsky
Yes, you're absolutely right, Tony. It was kind of a surprise. He still had two more years left with his contract with NBC. Dick Eversole flew out to California with Richie Zientson, the producer, and tried to talk him out of it, offered him to do half a season and he could pick his games. And he just said, you know, when I retired from coaching, I said I was never going back. And I feel the same way now about this. And he won 16 Emmys.
Jason Lock
Wow. Wow.
Rich Podolsky
He wasn't awarded for his work. The thing about Magna and Sumrall is that they, you know what, what emerged from my book is not just a portrait of the two of them. It was a cultural moment that they were able to raise the NFL to new heights and carry it to a new level of popularity. And all on the shoulders of these two guys. Madden's passion and spontaneity, especially once you gave him the telestrator, was tremendous. Summerall was a minimalist and was able to keep his entry and his exit short, but was able to rein in Madden when he was out on the limb.
Tony Kornheiser
It's really.
Rich Podolsky
Sumrall really gave himself up.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, it was a great pairing. And I'll get you out of here on this because I know and, you know, a lot of people who work together don't actually like each other. It made me very happy to think that Sumrall and Madden loved each other. Right.
Rich Podolsky
They loved each other as co workers, but they didn't hang out together.
Tony Kornheiser
You don't have to. Yeah, you don't have to.
Rich Podolsky
They were friendly, but they weren't really friends, so to speak. You know, on the weekend, Summer like to go to dinner with NFL executives from the other teams, while Madden liked to hang out with the kids from the crew. I mean, a perfect example is when they went to Washington D.C. one weekend and I get to the hotel and there's a letter for Madden and it's from Ethel Kennedy, the widow of rfk. And she writes, john, we're big fans of yours. We'd love to have dinner with you this weekend. And one of the kids looks up at man says, geez, John, are you going to have dinner with Ethel Kennedy? And he pauses for a second and he says, nah, I'm going to have Mexican food with you guys.
Tony Kornheiser
All right. We wish you all the luck in the world with the book. It's Madden and how they revolutionized NFL broadcasting. Thank you, Rich.
Rich Podolsky
Thanks, Tony. I appreciate it.
Tony Kornheiser
Rich Podolsky, boys and girls. We will take a break. Jason. Jason locanfora when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
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Tony Kornheiser
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Caller/Music Performer Mo Bluntz
Tiny forks that get the job done. Tiny forks that tons.
Tony Kornheiser
This is called Tiny Forks. It's by Mo Bluntz who writes. My name is Mo from Minneapolis, originally from Milwaukee. I was so happy to hear you all gushing about my Green Bay packers that I was inspired to send you. One of my songs is a song I performed at my wedding in June. I wrote this rap song about my wife eight years ago when we first met. But I'm not a rapper. I hope you enjoy. Go Pack and go brewers. P.S. she knocked me out of the playoffs in Fantasy last year, so I really hope you.
Rich Podolsky
So that's.
Tony Kornheiser
That's that. And then it plays in Jason Locanfora. And we will have to read this from Craig in Silver Spring, Maryland. I know I'm a little late catching up on the podcast. When I was about three or four years old, I had to have surgery on my kidneys and urethra. After I woke up, I remember being given a purple popsicle. A little while later I went to the bathroom and peed Purple. I have a vivid memory of it being incredibly painful post surgery and all, and yet exciting to pee purple. For the next 10 years, I. I would eat only purple popsicles in hopes of recreating that magical purple. I'm a little embarrassed it took so long for me to realize they put some special dye in my little popsicle as a kid. But to this day, I still prefer purple over all others. And of course, we bring this up because of Jason's travails with peeing orange last week, over which we got, I don't know, 10,000 emails. Everybody loved you. Everybody loves you without question. So let me get to the standard question that we ask on a Friday after a Thursday night. Did we learn anything from last night in particular?
Jason Lock
Not a ton. Boy, I was hoping that was going to be lobsters in both hands. I was going to. I was really hoping that you spoiled me now. I was hoping that was like some dude saying, hey, I just paid off a mortgage check, I want to bet. But you know, the peeing orange thing is interesting too. No, I don't think we learned a whole lot. You know, the scope of this Buffalo Bills offense is pretty constricted right now and it does in hind, like in the mind's eye, say, how did they run 32 plays for, you know, almost 300 yards and carve up the Ravens in the fourth quarter where there's really not much of a downfield thrust. The receivers don't show up 30 yards downfield. You know, it's underneath to the tight ends and then they, you know, they catch a hitch and they turn around and they run for another few yards. The offense really is Cook and then Allen's legs when they need them. It's not particularly dynamic. I don't even think the defense is all that special. Bosa looks like a sort of the guy he's been. You'll get a play or two out of him where he flashes, but he's kind of, you know, his body's betraying him and he's getting beat up and he's just not the explosive game record that he used to be. You can run on them, but they know how to win games and they haven't lost at home in forever. And even playing, I mean, I don't know, was that a C minus game for them? I don't think it certainly was any more than a C plus. And look, you're going to get that when they're making these guys play after, you know, two days later just played or whatever. But I just think that is what it is. You know, Miami, everybody wants to, like, you know, it's like, oh, it wasn't a complete footballing atrocity. Keep the coach, like, you know, people paying real money for this. Like, yeah, like, they didn't come off the bus and get destroyed. But did you ever really think Miami was winning that football game with. With the, you know, their offense and how conservative they become? Tua was averaging 1.5 yards.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, that was really low.
Jason Lock
This is the big leagues. Like, this is the big leagues. And, you know, the defense wasn't an abject failure, but, I mean, you still. I'd always felt like they're going to get between 30 and, you know, 34 points on these guys. It's just a matter of how. The missed field goal, I think, was huge. And good old Miami for bleeding the clock like they did and making it a game and, you know, taking advantage of that to tie it up at the half. That. That was a little painful.
Tony Kornheiser
Do you think McDaniel will keep his job this week? Do you think he will keep this?
Jason Lock
I mean, I don't think he's getting fired tomorrow coming off of this. No.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay.
Jason Lock
But I don't think. I don't think Stephen Ross is sitting there saying, oh, yeah, no, we just had a couple of bad weeks and, you know, we're about. We're about to take off. Like, the schedule lets up. I think some of the intensity and. And some of the spirit that they brought to this one, you know, against the division opponent on prime time, a team that hasn't lost at home in forever. I'm not sure that that same verve is going to be there. But the bottom line is the quarterback, who they gave a ton of money to, has regressed. Tyree Kill makes a lot of money to catch, you know, three passes a game. I just. I don't think this is. I don't think it's a quality product, and I don't think it's a good football team and someone will ultimately pay for that. And they're going to lose one or two of these games coming up that they probably shouldn't. And, you know, that's when I think you're going to hear even more about what these players really think of this coach and how much they're not buying in. And I think that'll be the end.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I was just. The only reason I bring that up is because they don't play again till next Monday night. So you would have almost a bye week if you were the new coach to you know, acclimate to the team and put some new stuff in. So I just did. All right. But I don't think he'll get fired today. Well, maybe he does, then. It's on the PTR show. We have something to talk about. That's good. The biggest game coming up is Detroit. Baltimore. Right. I mean, you're psyched for that? Yes.
Jason Lock
Oh, yeah. It's a big game. They played here in 2023. It was a complete, utter unmasking. I don't think we're going to get 2.0 of that. I mean, I think Baltimore probably wins again, and I think Baltimore offensively will continue to strut their stuff. I mean, this total is creeping towards 55. I understand why I wouldn't get on their number. I watch one of it. Learn how to bet that game with us.
Tony Kornheiser
We're going to plug that later. Don't worry.
Jason Lock
No other big night last night? Yeah. Like, I mean, and you go back to that game in 2023, Baltimore had 18 first downs in the first half. They averaged basically 10 yards per play in the first half. They rolled up 30 points in the first half. It was literally, Detroit goes three and out. You know, Baltimore goes 70 plays on 70 yards on three plays. Like, and that was pre Derrick Henry. Right. That was even a different iteration of this offense than the ridiculous one they have now. Like, that's, you know, that's not, you know, that's not Zay Flowers looking like, you know, top five wide receiver in the AFC now. And they should get Isaiah likely back for this game. So, yeah, I'm excited to see what Baltimore can do defensively because I think the Lions will challenge them in ways that the Browns certainly did not last week. But ultimately, a dome team this early in the season with two new coordinators and the new center having to go on the road on a Monday night where it's going to be loud and crazy, and it's, you know, a new brain trust and new communication, and I think, you know, Baltimore probably ends up three points.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay.
Jason Lock
Better than the Lions. I don't think it's a blowout like it was the last time they played. I'll be really interested to see how the Lions handle this. Johnny Morton, the new offensive coordinator, like, if they can't run the ball on early downs at all, and they might not be able to against this defense, how quickly does he abandon that is. Is this a night where golf's throwing the ball, you know, 45 times, which is not usually the way they want to go. But if it feels and looks like it did the first half of that Green Bay game. Are they able to just say screw it and throw the ball and find some joy throwing the ball against the defense that's now down Calvino and doesn't have great individual pass rushers to begin with?
Tony Kornheiser
I know that you're not sold on the Chiefs anymore and we can talk about that, but at the risk of making this dull, I don't want to make it dull, but can you explain the Brady thing to me? Can you explain what this is? Because it does certainly seem to me that the NFL is trying to say shut up already with this. There's nothing wrong with this.
Jason Lock
Well, I mean, it seems to me if, if I own an NFL team, even whether the Chiefs are on my schedule or not, I, I don't understand. Like, if I had an accomplished great player, like, let's say the, like Ed Reed becomes a minority investor in the Baltimore Ravens and then the Ravens decide we're going to do, you know, we're going to do a weekly NFL show. We're going to cover the league, not just our team. And Ed Reed's going to be one of our correspondents and we, you know, let's see if Ed can go inside other people's buildings and get interviews. Right? Like, people be like, no, like, let's see if Ed can sit in a production meeting and start quizzing their players and their, and their, and their coordinators. Because you know that we're doing this, this TV show, you know, around the league with the Baltimore race. Like, no one, no one would let him in that building. Like they, like it just wouldn't.
Tony Kornheiser
Well, I don't think Brady's in the building. I think he's got to do it remotely, I think. But I mean, but still he has access.
Jason Lock
He's got access to players.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes, he does. Yes, he does.
Jason Lock
He gets in the booth, right. And he sits next to a play by play guy who was downloading all those people for information.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
Jason Lock
So he's going to have access to everything that the head producer and the sideline reporter and the play by play guy get in the building and what they see when they're watching practice and then if his team's not playing on a Sunday, he's going to get to go on the headset and sit. And no one has a problem with an owner sitting in a booth that's listening to whatever he wants to listen.
Tony Kornheiser
That's right.
Jason Lock
It's the fact that this guy also is getting paid hundreds of thousand dollars by an entity that the league has a multi billion dollar relationship with. To be one of the people who gets this special access so that he can then present to America, you know, all this information and all this insight on all these teams who he also has a vested interest in beating, in competing with.
Tony Kornheiser
Just doesn't look good.
Jason Lock
I don't understand why one is not mutually exclusive of the other. Why you don't have to change a lane.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, Wilbourne and I agree with you. Wilbourne and I feel the same way.
Jason Lock
He doesn't have a right to be a broadcaster, but if he wants to be a broadcaster, then I think the idea that then he also is literally a part of one NFL team's daily conversation. You can get on a headset and say, hey, I heard this or I saw this or you know what I mean? My play by play guy told me this and I think it might help us here. How is that not a conflict of interest?
Tony Kornheiser
It seems like one to me, which preach in the choir. Can I ask you another question here? It's way early. Yeah, it's two weeks. It's too early. But how about the Colts? Isn't that stunning that they are two and oh, and that Daniel Jones, they haven't punted yet. Yeah.
Jason Lock
Their efficiencies are off the top charts.
Rich Podolsky
Yeah.
Jason Lock
This is going to be interesting because I do fancy Tennessee's defense. I think they win this game. I don't know that this is, you know, what we saw them do to Denver and certainly not what we saw them do to Miami. And it looks to be a little different for Daniel Jones. Going on the road, not having, you know, complete silence, not being on a dome where everything is hermetically sealed. But they've built up a lot of confidence. I, I have. I've always kind of thought that, you know, one of these teams that if they catch a couple breaks that division so bad, like, yeah, it's terrible division. Yeah, they could win the division. They could, you know, go to the playoffs, but they definitely would. The kind of team that needed a hot start and they needed to put this. This, you know, potentially brewing festering quarterback controversy. They needed to kind of put that to bed early. And so far, so good there. Again, we got to check home road splits. But the interesting thing about Danny Dimes is, remember, he was. He was kind of like Geno Smith. He would poop the bed at home and then go on the road and it's a little less pressure and I'll have to put on a show and, and be pretty good so, yeah, like, they're, they're, they're quasi interesting, and I think the defense has a chance to be okay. And if they can control the ball like they look like they can, you know, I. Taylor had a monster game against Tennessee last year. There was a period of time where he couldn't do anything against them. I feel like it's a kind of sort of trap game, like. But I, I do think the Colts win it. Yeah, I don't know that they win it going away. And then, you know, Jacksonville's playing Houston, so somebody's gonna lose that game or somebody's gonna tie that game. So, yeah, I think the Colts are, like I said, quasi interesting.
Tony Kornheiser
All right. Plug your. Plug your betting show. Plug that. That's. That's top of mind for you. Let's plug that.
Jason Lock
Well, it's. Yeah, it is seven days a week you can catch me and Beltway Ben hall giving you our very best plays in a multitude of sports. We were awesome in the Champions League. Had one loss. Napoli picks up a red card in the 26th minute. That's going to throw you for a loop. But, yeah, we're crushing Champions League. We are. I mean, we're kicking ass in the NFL. Last night I went 4 and 2. A lot of plus money parlays. If the kicker hits a field goal in the first half, we're really. It's three lobsters. I'd have a lobster in my mouth. I wouldn't be able to talk to you. A lobster in each hand and a lobster in my mouth. So it's one of that. At one event with us on Twitter, it's live at noon, basically noon every day on my Twitter at Jason Locke. And for. You can find episodes on YouTube. YouTube.com backslash@. Want to bet with us? And don't worry if that shows two or three days old because we're getting on games early. We're giving you the numbers where we like them, when we like them. So there's NFL bets that I gave out on Tuesday that those games, obviously, many of them won't be played till Sunday. So anyway, we're only in this to try to make money for people. We're not getting paid by sportsbooks like Most of these MOOCs to sell you eight leg parlays that have no chance of putting money in anybody's pocket except for the books and except for the moocs. Don't bet with the moocs. Bet with us that want to bet with us.
Tony Kornheiser
Thank you, Jason. Talk to you next week. Love Jason Locke and Fora. We'll take a break and coming up is James Carville and Jeff Ma. Though we not sure we're going to actually have James Carville, but we have his bets. Yes, we have his bets. We're going to play music for him anyway as if he were here. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
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Jeff Ma
I just.
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Tony Kornheiser
You'Re listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. This is the music that we used to play in James Carville. This is Hank Williams, one of the greats of all time. And this is called you'd win again.
Producer Nigel
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
And indeed, Carville, he didn't lose last week. Carville was 3 and 3 last week. Carville is 75 overall. And Carville's in Europe and we can't make a telephone connection with him.
Producer Nigel
I think he's on a train to like Amsterdam or something.
Tony Kornheiser
He just can't do it. So we will give you. He has cabled us his picks and we will give them to you after we talk with Jeff Ma because now we have Jeff Ma with us and Jeff was also 3 and 3 last week, but Jeff is 5 and 6 overall at the moment. And this week's picks with James Carville and Jeff Ma are brought to you by fanduel sportsbook. Make every moment more you wanted before you get to the picks, you wanted to talk a little bit about the tush push. My position on the tush Push is not ironclad, but it's almost ironclad. I. I'm okay with it. I think that it is the essence of football. I think that football is a game of strength against strength, and if you line up, you're not passing the ball and you're trying to run it down the opponent's throat and you're able to do it, it's okay. But it continues to be in the news and it continues to create, because the Eagles do it so well, it continues to create controversy. A lot of teams, they just don't want it. They don't want it. What are your thoughts on this as it affects betting?
Jeff Ma
Well, it's a big asset for Philly, and I think it's a big asset for them. I think Sirianni said something like, it's nice to be able to start off first and eight every time and they do such a good job play calling around it, knowing it's available to them when they're third and they know they can run it twice and they're going to be able to get it. And so it's a big asset. The thing we talked about this week on about the process is how the NFL hates anything that doesn't have drama attached to it or anything that seems inevitable. You guys talked about it earlier this week, the kickoff. One of the reasons they changed it is because it became too predictable. And predictable.
Tony Kornheiser
It's good now.
Jason Lock
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Ma
So, you know, I think I agree with you. I don't think it's something that they should outlaw now. The question is, and this is what's come up recently, is what makes it so successful? Why are they so much better at it? And I think the interesting thing is that they are going to do something about it, I think. But what will they do about it? How can they make it illegal? Can they make it illegal to push people from the back? Well, that's been legal for a long time since, you know, back in the bush push days and those types of things when they came out of college. So what are they going to do? Are they going to make it illegal to line up so close the way they do? Is the formation going to become illegal? I think what they're going to start doing, and there was actually an article about this, is they're going to start officiating it very, very closely. And, you know, if it is true that they are moving early, which is what people are saying is happening and it's just so hard to see it, then I think they're going to start Calling some false starts on this, I think you're going to start seeing one or two false starts.
Tony Kornheiser
Well, that puts you back five yards. That takes you out of tu push land, right?
Jeff Ma
Yeah, yeah, once or twice. And that's going to really solve things and I think they're going to scrutinize it and I think we all know that you can call holding offsides false start on almost every play if you want to. So certainly they could, they could find more false starts here and I think that's what might end up happening.
Tony Kornheiser
Let me get to one other topic and that is the dissolution of sorts of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh comes in saying how great their defense is. Their defense stinks. They've given up tremendous amount of points and Kansas city has never been 02 before and could go to 03, obviously. Are you seeing this reflected, Are you seeing a lack of confidence in Kansas City and Pittsburgh reflected in betting or are you seeing the opposite?
Jason Lock
Yeah, I mean the interesting thing about.
Jeff Ma
Both of these teams obviously is they are, have been the most consistent teams over the last whatever, 10, 15 years in Kansas City's situation. Like, you know, the problem with a lot of this is that it's early in the season and you know, if you talk to real good coaches, the beginning of the season, like I think, you know, we talked with Kevin Clark this weekend about the process. He said that Belichick said that no football team knows who they are until Halloween. So what is, what is, what does this to mean?
Rich Podolsky
Right.
Jeff Ma
And when I back when I worked with for ESPN and when I used to park your car, I talked to Teddy Brutsky and Brutus mentioned to me, you know, that the first four games of the season are meaningless to Belichick. He's just experimenting and figuring things out and I think Andy Reid follows that same thing. Now the question is the Chiefs over the last one of their big advantages, been able to get the ball downfield and you know, Mahomes is great at that and they have not been able to do that and that's a big issue. And when you think about betting on teams, you try to avoid short term sample size and narratives and you try to instead see what's the underlying issue. And, and if the Chiefs aren't able to get the ball down the field, that's a big issue and they haven't been able to do that. They haven't had the, you know, since Tyree Kill left and Rasheed Rice has been playing. They just don't have the people to do it. The Steelers similar situation. Is their defense fundamentally like which has been sort of the hallmark of their team. Have they really become one of the worst defense in the league? It certainly looks like that in the first couple weeks of the season. And have people figured out how to just stay away from T.J. watt? And that's kind of the thought. So I think the Chiefs will end up being okay. I mean, they've obviously won a lot of close games in the past and have lost two close games this season. So maybe that's just a small anomaly. But again, the thing to watch with them is whether they're able to get the ball down the field.
Tony Kornheiser
All right, give us your picks, Jeff.
Jeff Ma
All right, we're going to focus in on a couple of these angles. One, the team that I think is interesting that may be pretty overrated in the first two weeks of the season is Indianapolis as Indianapolis. I actually like the Titans plus the four here. This is a huge overreaction where there's something called look ahead lines, where they have lines out for every game of the season before the season starts. And the look ahead line for this game, the Titans actually would have been favored. So you're seeing a pretty big change in this line where the Titans are plus four over indies. So I'm going to take the Titans.
Producer Nigel
We can actually give you that plus four and a half.
Tony Kornheiser
We give you four and a half.
Jeff Ma
All right, there we go.
Tony Kornheiser
All right, what else?
Jeff Ma
The Bucks have played well so far this season, but they are incredibly beat up. They're incredibly beat up on the offensive line where they're just signing people off the street.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
Jeff Ma
And you know, the jets obviously do not have fields here, but how much of a difference is fields to Tyrod Taylor? I think probably not a ton of. So I'm going to take the jets plus the six and a half jets.
Tony Kornheiser
Plus six and a half against Tampa Bay, who lost another lineman yesterday. Okay, what else?
Jeff Ma
The Falcons are minus five at Carolina. You know, Carolina obviously played terribly against Jacksonville at the beginning of the first game of the season. This last game they had this amazing comeback that almost got them. They covered on a backdoor cover, which is called because they were plus seven. And they almost, you know, obviously had the ball at the end of the game to try to win the game. If that like rush had not happened, you'd be talking about like this team being like the worst team for sure. And you know, I think the Falcons showed a lot on Sunday night. Their offense we mentioned we think could be one of the best offense in the league this year. Their defense is sneaky good and I think they win this game in a blowout. So I like the Falcons minus the five.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, what else?
Jeff Ma
We talked about the Steelers defense not being very good and you know, again, it's sneaky bad how they've been, you know, giving up over 30 points in the first two weeks of the season. So I'm going to take the Patriots plus the one and a half. Patriots proved a lot last week against Miami. Team that we've talked about. Who knows what's going on there? They certainly played better last night. But I like the Pats getting points at home against the Steelers whose defense is really struggling.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, what else?
Jeff Ma
And then take one college game. The team that we've been watching all year has been Texas Tech. We've mentioned that, you know, what they did in the portal and NAL and the talent there. They go to Utah. They're a three and a half point underdog. Obviously, Utah has been a great team at home over the years, but if Texas Tech is going to win the national championship or at least go to the playoffs, this is a game they need to win. So I'm going to take them plus a 3.5.
Tony Kornheiser
Wonderful. That's five games for Jeff this week. Okay. And you can listen to bet the process whenever you want to listen to it, much like you can listen to this thing whenever you want to listen to it. Thank you, Jeff. We'll talk to you next week.
Jeff Ma
Thanks, Tony.
Tony Kornheiser
Jeff Mobb, boys and girls. And as I said earlier, James Carville is in Europe and he's on a train and we're not going to be able to make the connection. But he gave Nigel his pick, so let's get those out there.
Producer Nigel
Yeah. So he took in the Michigan, Nebraska game. He's taking the over at 46 and a half.
Tony Kornheiser
Michigan, Nebraska take over.
Producer Nigel
Yeah, 46 and a half.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay.
Producer Nigel
And then Eastern Carolina is hosting byu. Eastern Carolina, East Carolina, I guess I.
Tony Kornheiser
Don'T know who they are.
Producer Nigel
East Carolina hosting BYU and giving seven. So he's going to take East Carolina in that.
Tony Kornheiser
Giving seven.
Producer Nigel
Giving seven? Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
They're giving seven to byu. BYU last year was a. Was almost a playoff team.
Jason Lock
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Really? By is two now. Wow.
Producer Nigel
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, go ahead.
Producer Nigel
In the Delaware getting five and a half at flu.
Tony Kornheiser
Are you serious?
Producer Nigel
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
Delaware.
Producer Nigel
Yeah, he's got the blue hands, but no, he doesn't have the blue campus. He's got FIU at home giving the five and a half to Delaware.
Tony Kornheiser
Florida International.
Producer Nigel
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
Florida International minus five. Yes. He's taking that. Yes. I never in my life would have said that on this show. We would get a Delaware, Florida international game.
Producer Nigel
Oh, hold on. I made a mistake. I'm sorry.
Jeff Ma
Surprise.
Producer Nigel
Yes, well, it's, it's difficult sometimes to transcribe what James is sending you and finding out the conference of these teams. It is the accident. He's taking East. Yes, it is. Eastern Carolina is getting the seven.
Tony Kornheiser
Sorry, they're getting seven.
Producer Nigel
So I had that.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes. Sorry about that. That's what I thought. Yes.
Producer Nigel
And that's it for college form. He's taking four pro games. He's taking the Texans getting one and a half at the Jaguars.
Tony Kornheiser
Houston plus one and a half.
Producer Nigel
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
Jacksonville. Yes. Yes.
Producer Nigel
And I want to make sure he's taking the Bears getting one and a half at home against the Cowboys.
Tony Kornheiser
Chicago plus one and a half, Dallas. I don't understand that line.
Producer Nigel
No, because that flipped. I think early in the week. I think the Bears were giving now.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. And he's taking a three point switch.
Producer Nigel
That line taking the Saints getting seven and a half at Seattle.
Tony Kornheiser
New Orleans plus seven and a half at Seattle. At Seattle, huh?
Producer Nigel
Yes. And then he's taking the Washington football team at home, giving three to the Raiders minus three.
Tony Kornheiser
Las Vegas.
Producer Nigel
And if you're looking online and saying, well, these lines don't match up what I'm seeing on my particular bookie.
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, these are his lines.
Rich Podolsky
Some of them.
Tony Kornheiser
Is he making up the line?
Producer Nigel
Some of them, you know, a half point here, a point there.
Tony Kornheiser
But there's an issue with the conversion when you go from the pound.
Producer Nigel
Exactly. Yes. There's a conversion rate we have.
Tony Kornheiser
Do we have other lines on these games?
Producer Nigel
For the most part, those all. I think the most of the time we're seeing the Raiders getting three and a half, not three. And I think the Michigan, Nebraska game I think was actually at 47 and a half or something like that. But you know, but we give James.
Tony Kornheiser
We do the benefit. Totally the benefit of the doubt. Because T boy probably finds somebody in the swamps that will book these things.
Producer Nigel
Yeah, you shop around.
Tony Kornheiser
All right, good. That's good. This week's picks with James Carville and Jeff Mobb have been brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more and we will come back with email and jingle. And I am Tony Kornheiser.
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Caller/Music Performer Mo Bluntz
Here comes Tony's mail back.
Tony Kornheiser
Got your emails, faxes in your notes. Here comes Tony's mail back. Gonna read some for all of you folks. It's lovely. It's Tim Wildsmith. It's just lovely. You want to do the Bethesda bagel ad?
Producer Nigel
Yes, Bethesda bagels.
Tony Kornheiser
We love them.
Producer Nigel
You will as well. Just go to bethesdavagels.com.com for location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled.
Tony Kornheiser
Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say it's the same old story everywhere I go I get slandered, libeled I hear words I never heard in the Bible and I'm one step ahead of the shoeshine Two steps away from the county line Just trying to keep my customers satisfied Satisfied. Paul Simon, Artie Garfunkel. Fabulous song. Thanks to our guests today, Rich Podolsky, Jason Lochinfour, James Carbokinosorta and Jeff Ma. And don't forget to look for Rich's new book, Madden and How they Revolution Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts Spotify and Audisey if you listen on Apple. Please leave us a review. Let me thank David Martin, Dr. David Martin, who's an ear, nose and throat doctor in Los Angeles trying to help me with my vertigo and talks about Googling the Epley maneuver which Matt Kelleher sent me, which I am familiar with. And I, you know, I don't know if that's preventative though. I mean, I don't know if you do it once you get vertigo or if you do it every day of your life so you don't get vertigo. But anyway, he gave me a phone number and I can give him a call.
Producer Nigel
Well, that's handy.
Tony Kornheiser
Thanks as well to Danny Kramer who says to Michael, tell your dad to give the Diagnostic Imaging Clinic his Medicare care number. They can bill Medicare instead of Cigna and he will pay a co payment, but it will be covered. Check it off my to do list. This is going to sound so ridiculous to everybody. I don't know that I have a Medicare number. I'm sure I do, but I don't know what it is. I don't have any idea because I'm still employed and I have allegedly, you know, Cigna's not real insurance, but allegedly Insurance and Evercore, another fraud company, obviously. But I don't, I don't know what my Medicare number is. So if somebody can tell me how I can find that, I'd be appreciative. Let's go through some more Email Phil from Columbia, Father of Joe, the official turtle of the Tony Kornizer show, writes, In April 1975, the Bullets were in the conference semifinals against Bob McAdoo and the Buffalo Braves. The son of one of my dad's co workers was a statistician for the Bullets. The son said if there was a game seven, he'd get us floor seats. Of course, as a 12 year old who had never been to a playoff game, I was desperately praying for a Game 7. I was ecstatic when Game 7 materialized. Sadly, the day before Game 7, my dad came home to tell me the co worker's son had given the tickets to someone else. It did not alleviate my pain to learn he gave the tickets to Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, who were in town preparing for the shooting of all the President's Men that started to filming the next month. It hurt even more to hear the announcers mention that they were at the game in my seats. It was years before I could watch that movie from Scott Kelnhofer in Plover, Wisconsin. On Wednesday's show you made mention of Paul Adonisio and among his other achievements, his collaboration with Robert Redford on the movie Quiz Show. Did you know Paul Adonisio is the brother of Mark Adonisio, the principal owner of Milwaukee Brewers? I did not. I did not. Also, if you want to check out some of Redford's pre film work, he appears in a 1960 episode of Perry Mason, the Case of the Treacherous Toupee. He plays the son in law of a wealthy businessman who turns up murdered. Spoiler alert. Mason wins the case over Hamilton Berger again. Always beat Burger from Jim Gentile, formerly Kensington, formerly Silver Spring, now Brooklyn. As much as I hesitate to correct a distinguished journalist like Chris Chuck Saliza, he buried the lead when he mentioned Dick Goodwin's involvement in drafting the script for the film Quiz Show. In fact, Rob Morrow plays Dick Goodwin in the film because he was an investigator for the Senate Committee before becoming a speechwriter for jfk. In fact, the film script was based on a chapter from Goodwin's memoir, the Final Film. The Final Film exaggerated the role of Goodwin's character in the investigation, perhaps reflecting the philosophy Redford expressed to Woodward about All the President's Men. The film audience needs a clear protagonist in order to get involved in the story. It's a very good email from Peter Jennings. Not that Peter Jennings. I'm sure you will be inundated with Robert Redford related emails because cannot resist. The woman to whom I'm related by marriage was a huge Robert Redford fan as I am a significant portion of the female population of the world was over many years her favorite movie was Electric Horseman. Lovely movie and she probably watched it a thousand times minimum. Another Sidney Pollock collaboration with Redford and co stars the one and only Jane Fonda. Willie Nelson makes his film debut and contributes many songs to a brilliant soundtrack. A cameo by Wilford Brimley as well. Perfect. We saw this movie at a drive in movie theater in Colorado 45 years ago. Such great memories. Melancholy. Happy trails to a true American legend from Patton. Like the General in South Jersey. I, like so many, was truly moved by the remembrance of Robert Redford for several reasons. I suppose this is the new game. Your favorite Robert Redford movie I saw in a theater a forgotten film titled the Last Castle where Redford plays a general who disobeys what he believes to be an unlawful order and is sent to military prison. It's an incredible story, for me anyway, about using your voice to attempt to undo injustice in spite of incredible odds. You mentioned out of Africa and while the acting is wonderful, that is one of the best musical themes in the history of movies. It plays in certain parts of Disney's Animal Kingdom, where I recently traveled with a woman to whom I'm related by marriage and heard more than once. Plus, there's the Natural. What's interesting about that score is it gets reused with some regularity because it is so well known. I was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra many moons ago, and we actually played cuts from the score of the Natural during the closing ceremonies of the centennial Olympics in 1996, a whirlwind of summer during which a friend and I were sucked into the production van after recording session for the ceremony and sat with Michael Kamen. Yes, that Michael Kamen, composer of the score for Lethal Weapon and Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, among others, for two and a half hours listening to work we'd done that day as he selected tracks to cut together the music for the ceremony. We spent, I believe, 18 total hours recording for the ceremony, which was magical in every sense and I could talk about it all day long. Thank you for bringing back such fond memories from Mike Johnson in Cerritos, California. I'm sure you know by now that Robert Redford's classmates at Van Nuys High School included. Hello, Don Drysdale. And hello, Natalie Wood. I didn't know that. This makes you wonder what class reunions must have been.
Producer Nigel
What have you been up to?
Jason Lock
Wow.
Tony Kornheiser
Leslie Thomas, Hillsborough, North Carolina. You have files. You have flies. We have bats. We have a colony of 40 to 50 large brown bats. And apparently we have had them since the house was built. Who knew? Say goodbye to $12,000 for the remediation. Wow. Get your house checked. Matt Nelson, Los Angeles. Let me get this straight. Tony is not only perpetually aggravated by the gnats, but he's upset at the gnats with a G Now G N A T S now too. I'll shut up and listen. Jim from Lutherville, which I think is where Pam Schreiber is from. Okay. You say you have vertigo, perhaps related to the crystals in your right ear. To regain proper balance, I suggest you place in your left ear the Ronettes. Problem solved. That's funny. Jeff Alexander, former petty officer, second class, U.S. navy, Salinas, California. I believe it was in that Ken Burns documentary, the Civil War, where I learned that Admiral Farragut. Yes, that Admiral Farragut of Damn the Torpedoes fame suffered from vertigo at times. It was so debilitating that he had to be tied to his main mass during battles in order to keep upright to see what was going on. If any of that is incorrect, blame Ken or my memory.
Producer Nigel
Maybe just afflict sea captains.
Jason Lock
Wow.
Tony Kornheiser
Maybe. Dan from Physical Therapist in Fort Myers, Florida. Sounds like you could be dealing with bppv. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. I'm a physical therapist. I treat this quite often. It occurs when otoconia, more commonly called crystals, in your inner ear, are out of place and then affect the signals your ear sends to your brain about movements you make. Common symptoms include that spinning sensation after a change of position, getting in and out of bed, bending over, forward, or rolling in bed. Usually the spinning lasts less than a minute, but you can continue to feel off for a while. Mine lasted longer than a minute. Believe me, if I were a betting man, I would say your physician prescribed you meclizine. Yes, indeed. A drug that dampens the signals from your inner ear to your brain, which usually helps symptoms quite a bit. Indeed, that's what it was over the counter. And that was the active ingredient. I would recommend seeing a physical therapist who's experienced in treating vestibular conditions. The good news is that if it is BPPV causing your dizziness, it's often a fairly quick maneuver fix. We use gravity to move the crystals back to where they belong. Look up the Epley maneuver. Everybody's got the Epley maneuver. Carla Corrado I don't have vertigo, but I've seen the movie with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. The Reverend Mark Schaefer, Did I hear you correctly? Did you say Cigna Healthcare's partner is reflecting rejecting your coverage is called Evercore, as in short for Evil Corporation. That's a little too on the nose, don't you think? Steve Gilmore, San Angelo, Texas Allow me to share the best treatment for your hamstring issues. According to my high school football coach, Take a salt tablet and walk it off. I can't say it will help. At least CIGNA can't deny that treatment. Brandon Borzelli Lebanon, New Jersey over the years, we've come accustomed to nicknames on the show. Popular ones like Satchmo or tk, Stack Money, Super G or Lil Bond. Even in more recent ones such as Lace or Bootsy. We're also attuned to mispronunciations, Andy Poly being the most famous over the years, but others like Toby, which is only one letter from your name, or Timmy, as some emailers have referred to you over the years. But Ron? That's a head scratcher. Perhaps the emailer believed you look similar to the actor Ron Rifkin. Or perhaps the emailer thought you were Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, or Ron Howard had vertigo at some point and you have kind of the same haircut as the director. Was the Rascals manager named Ron, by any chance? Some of the nicknames you don't even realize are nicknames. For example, Nigel is actually a nickname. His birth name is Cornelius Aloysius, but his mom called him Nigel because he reminded her of the famous violinist Nigel Kennedy. Robert Wong, Honolulu, Hawaii Hearing the email about a chipotle that ran out of tortillas reminds me of an experience I had at a Subway One night. I walked into the restaurant where I was informed by the sandwich artist that they were completely out of bread and were not planning on making anymore. Incredulously, I asked them, then, why are you still open? He said, I could still order a salad, but who are we kidding? Nobody goes to Subway for a salad. Come on, man, what have we been doing out here? From Scott Moffitt in Richmond, Virginia. I'm sure every Gen X or elder Millennial Little has emailed you already, but it was Bob Golick who was on Saved by the bell La Concha. So yeah, Chris said that right?
Producer Nigel
And I think he has a follow up email right after this.
Tony Kornheiser
I'm surprised that the Loomis Chafee School for the Rich allowed Solizza to watch it. Also, please ask Steve Bernanke to eat it. And as a follow up of course Cillizza issues his correction after I fired off my email. He deserves to eat it. I once went to a Chipotle and they were out of ice. It was clearly too hard for them to walk across the street and get bags of ice at the 7 Elaine, Applegate Island Heights, New Jersey Love, love love Tom Masser's painting of Chessy. His original one of his golden with the tennis ball always brought a smile to my face and warm to my heart. Especially having lost my golden Charlie two years ago. Glad you and Wilbon are on PTI for several more years. The two of you always remind me of Statler and Waldorf. The four of you have never seen below the waist.
Producer Nigel
Do you know who they are?
Tony Kornheiser
No I don't.
Producer Nigel
Those are the two old Muppets in the balcony.
Tony Kornheiser
I always say that we are Muppets. Jim Westbrook, Elkin, North Carolina Never had his emails get past Nigel. Favorite David Johnson story When he managed the Mets, he was asked if he called a particular troublesome player a dog. No, I didn't. A dog is loyal and would run after a ball is the quote. And from Michael Benedetti in San Tan Valley, Arizona Dear Ron, have a nice shirt. Got on your bike tonight Everyone is always do wear white now. If there's anything I can do for you I certainly hope you'll die I.
Rich Podolsky
Certainly hope you'll die soon.
Caller/Music Performer Mo Bluntz
Tiny forks that get the job done Tiny forks are tons of fun I don't know why you complain you're just driving me insane so you take that tiny fork and just stick it in your brain Tiny forks that get the job done Tiny forks they're tons of fun I don't know why you complain you're just driving me insane so you take the tiny fork came to stick it in your brain she looks at me with those eyes something's wrong pasta's dry, getting close so running out of tissues Then I find out that we have flatware issues you set the table wrong again she said do you want me to end up dead? She said Then she started seeing red and I replied Tiny forks that get the job done Tiny forks are tons of fun I don't know why you complain you're just driving me insane. So you take that tiny fork and just stick it in your brain. Tiny forks that get the job done. Tiny forks that tons of fun fun I don't know why you complain you're just driving me insane. So you take that tiny fork and just stick it in your brain. Now stop count the prongs and listen this tiny voice so clean that it glistens and it grabs the right amount of food for a guy to chew if you're a chill ass dude. So darlin you'll be just fine either way you're the one that set the table this time you know I switch utensils for you cause nothing's too good for my tiny spoon. Tiny forks that get the job done Tiny forks are tons of fun. I don't know why you complain you're just dropping me the in insane. So you take that tiny fork and just stick it in your brain. Tiny forks, they get the job done. Tiny forks, they're tons of fun. Sorry about the last refrain. You don't drive me insane. I'll grab the big forks and this won't happen again. I'm really sorry. I'll just use big forks from now on.
Jason Lock
It's not your fault, Sam.
Date: September 19, 2025
Host: Tony Kornheiser
Guests: Rich Podolsky, Jason La Canfora, Jeff Ma, (via picks: James Carville)
Episode Theme:
This episode explores the legacy of legendary NFL broadcasting duo John Madden and Pat Summerall, their impact on television and sports culture, and pivots into current NFL discussion and betting advice for the weekend. Sports, nostalgia, and witty banter abound.
Tony Kornheiser leads a lively episode filled with nostalgia, sports history, and NFL insights. The spotlight is on Rich Podolsky’s new book about the broadcasting impact of Madden and Summerall, followed by NFL analysis from Jason La Canfora and betting picks from Jeff Ma and James Carville. The episode blends deep dives into the art of sports broadcasting, the evolution of NFL TV rights, current league storylines, and irreverent humor on everything from fantasy football to vertigo.
“Is there anybody else you can think of that is a better pairing ever than Madden and Summerall?” — Tony Kornheiser [02:20]
“[Signing them] gave a fledgling network instant credibility.” — Rich Podolsky [11:37]
“He just said, you know, when I retired from coaching, I said I was never going back. And I feel the same way now about this.” — Rich Podolsky [12:56]
“They were friendly, but they weren't really friends, so to speak.” [14:37]
“I just don’t think this is… a good football team and someone will ultimately pay for that.” — Jason La Canfora [22:12]
“How is that not a conflict of interest?” — Jason La Canfora [28:59]
“I don’t think it’s something that they should outlaw now… but I think they’re going to start officiating it very, very closely.” — Jeff Ma [37:21]
“The thing to watch with [the Chiefs] is whether they’re able to get the ball down the field.” — Jeff Ma [39:41]
Tony’s trademark blend of irreverence, sports nostalgia, and warmth persists throughout. He’s inquisitive, playful, and collegial with guests, swapping stories and lightly needling regulars and listeners alike. The tone is conversational, occasionally nostalgic, often humorous, and always steeped in sports culture and banter.
"Dear Ron" is a quintessential Tony Kornheiser Show: a tapestry of sports history, league analysis, NFL broadcasting lore, and side-splitting asides, featuring deep dives into the magic of Madden and Summerall, lessons in NFL economics, sharp sports betting insights, and the sort of locker room camaraderie and mailbag oddities that have endeared the show to its listeners for years.